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lOHEMIAN i 



(CZECH) 



I HOPES AND j 
ASPIRATIONS i 



A LECTURE DELIVERED 
BY 

CHARLES PERGLER, L. L. B. 

AT 

THE STATE UNIVERSITY 
OF MINNESOTA 
ON 
., MARCH 28th, 1916 

tnica. 



PUBLISHED BY THE 
BOHEMIAN NATIONAL ALLIANCE 

IN AMERICA 
3639 W. 26th STREET, CHICAGO, ILL. 



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BOHEMIAN— (CZECH) HOPES AND 
ASPIRATIONS. 

I. 

It is only a tniism to say that the days of self- 
sufficiency of any country are gone never to return. 

For a generation, ever since the Congress of 
Berlin, the prediction was often and freely made that 
the future European war would start in the Balkans. 
It did so start, and lately, as a result of the confla- 
gration kindled in the Southeastern Europe, the 
United States more than once have been brought to 
the very brink of war. Yet, prior to this war, how 
many of us interested ourselves in the Balkan prob- 
lem? How many of us were aware of the fearful 
results of the world's failure to sensibly and justly 
-~££^je the problem of small nationalities in Europe? 

This, of itself, is a sufficient justification for a 
tWecture on any one of the small nationalities in Europe. 

It may no longer be claimed that we are not our 
brothers' keepers. Sociologically speaking, the doc- 
trine so crudely expressed in the saying, "Each man 
for himself, and the devil take the hindmost," has 
been relegated to the limbo of things obsolete and no 
longer true in any sense. It is contrary to our 
conception of enlightened self-interest, it is contrary 
to our modern ethical opinions and beliefs. 

What is true of relations of individuals within a 
state is true of international relations. No nation on 
the face of the globe is safe so long as any other 
nation is oppressed and has to struggle for freedom 
and liberty. 

Oppression and tyranny breed resistance. In 
the words of William Lloyd Garrison, "Oppression 
and insurrection go hand in hand, as cause and effect 
are allied together. In what age of the world have 
tyrants reigned with impunity, or the victims of 
tyranny not resisted unto blood?" Friction growing 
out of the relation of. oppressed and oppressors may, 
at any time endanger the world's peace. ''\. 

This is to be especially considered when we speak 
of a country concerning which Bismarck said: 
"Bohemia is a fortress created by God himself." 
To paraphrase the expression of an eminent English 
author, Mr. Seton Watson, it behooves the world, 
in its own interest, as well as for the sake of justice 
and humanity, to see to it that Bohemia becomes a 
fortress, not of reaction, but of liberty. 



Best American traditions point in the same 
direction. Wfe ourselves attained our independence 
with the aid of idealistic individuals of other national- 
ities. The names of Lafayette, Von Steuben and 
Pulaski, speak for themselves. These highminded 
men drew the sword in defense of an ideal, against 
what they conceived to be wrong. 

Whatever may have been the subsequent vicissi- 
tudes of the Monroe Docrtine, the fact remains that 
one of the motives leading to its enunciation was 
American desire to see free, democratic and republican 
institutions spread and prosper in the western 
hemisphere. It should never be forgotten that the 
Monroe Doctrine was aimed against the unholy 
Holy Alliance. 

When Hungary was struggling against Austrian 
despotism, Daniel Webster, tHen Secretary of State, 
did not hesitate to assert the right of America to 
sympathize with the efforts of any nation to acquire 
liberty, Cuba was liberated by American eff(5^ 
and Americans always sympathized with those wh\^ 
were oppressed, Belgians, Armenians, or any other " 
race. In the words of Professor Bliss Perry, "The 
ideal passions of patriotism, of liberty, of loyalty to 
home and section, of humanitarian and missionary 
effort, have all burned with a clear flame in the 
United States." 

Civilization would be a sham and a fraud, and 
a hollow mockery, were there not certain things of 
permanent value, were there no eternal verities. It 
may be true that most things have only a relative 
value, but this world would be a sad place indeed, 
and Hfe would hardly be worth living, if out of the 
mint of centuries of struggle and toil nothing came 
'that we could look upon as an immutable treasure. 
There is such a thing as right and wrong, and as 
between right and wrong no individual, no nation, 
can afford to be indifferent. 

"Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, 
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; 
Some gfCjit Cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, 
Parts thegpats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right. 
And the'choice goes by forever, 'twixt that darkness and that light. 
Has thou chosen, O my people, on whose party thou shalt stand. 
Ere the Doom from its worn sandals shakes the dust against our land? 
Though the cause of Evil prosper, yet, 't is Truth alone is strong. 
And, albeit she wander outcast now, I see around her throng 
Troops of beautiful, tall angels, "to enshield her from all wrong." 

— James Russell Lowell 

II. 

The Czechs, or Bohemians, are a branch of the 
Slavonic race, which is of central European origin. 



according to Professor Lubor Niederle, of the Bohe- 
mian University of Prague. The Slavs are pure 
Aryans, just as the Celts, Germans and Latins. 

Many popular prejudices to the contrary not- 
withstanding, the Slavonic races have contributed 
their share to modern culture and civilization. 

When we' think of the Russians, we must inevi- 
tably also think of Puskin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dosto- 
jevskjr, and Tolstoj, names that are mentioned only 
with respect, whenever the world's literary treasures 
are discussed. Russian music is becoming well 
known and appreciated in the English speaking world. 
In the field of mathematical research, the names of 
Lobacevsky and Minkovsk5r are known to all 
mathematicians, and in the realm of physical science 
we need only to point to Lebedev, while the name of 
the great biologist, Mecnikov, is almost a household 
word. The names of Plechanov and Karejev are 
known to all students of sociology. 

The Poles have given to the world Copernicus, 
the poet Mickiewicz, the novelist Sinkiewicz, and a 
host of others. 

The most admired artist in London just now is 
the Serbian sculptor, MestroviS. 

It must always be remembered that the Czech, 
John Hus, preceded Luther by one hundred years; 
that Komensky was one of the greatest educators of 
all ages; that Peter Chelcicky preceded Tolstoj by 
four hundred years; that the Czech warrior Zizka is 
regarded as one of the originators of modern strategy. 

In fact, Bohemia has had fascinating history, 
full of misfortunes and suffering, it is true, yet also 
replete with incidents and struggles, of which any 
individual of Czech origin may well be proud. 

Mr. John W. Burgess, of Columbia University, 
who, since the outbreak of the present war, has be- 
come such an ardent defender and advocate of all 
things Teutonic, in his otherwise great work on 
"Political Science and Comparative Constitutional 
Law" lays down the proposition that the Teutonic 
nations are the political nations par excelltenct^, and 
that the Slavs and Greeks lack in political *e4p,acity. 

The history of Bohemia furnishes a refutation of 
this assumption as far as the Slavs are concerned. 

As early as the seventh century, when the 
historical data relative to Bohemia begun, we find 
traces of a Bohemian State. 

In the eleventh centur}^, Bohemia, Moravia, 
Silesia and Poland were united under Bfetislav I, 
and, in the words of Count Luetzow, "The idea of a 
West Slav Empire seemed on the point of being 



realized, but Germany stepped in to prevent the for- 
mation of a powerful Slav State on her borders." 

Otokar II., of the House of Pfemy^l, for a time 
extended Bohemian domination from the Adriatic 
to the Baltic. 

Under the "National King", George of Podebrad, 
in the fifteenth century, Bohemia was a European 
power of the first order. 

All these accomplishments, attained under 
sovereigns belonging to houses of Czech origin, 
certainly show a high degree of political capacity. 

The fact that later Bohemia succumbed to over- 
whelming brute force is not proof of want of political 
capacity. After all, might does not make right, and 
if right happens to be overcome by might, that 
furnishes for might no justification. 

III. 

During the fifteenth century the Czechs fought 
for the freedom of conscience against the whole of 
Europe. For more than a generation they victorious- 
ly repulsed the onslaughts of army after army. 
This was the time when Bohemia became known as 
the country of the book and the cup; this was the 
time when "the meanest Hussite woman knew the 
Bible better than any Roman priest", as testified to 
by Pope Pius II. (Aeneas Sylvius.) 

But the country paid the penalty for the bravery 
of its people and their courage and perseverance in 
fighting for what they conceived to be right. When 
the Hapsburgs came to the Bohemian throne in 1526, 
and forthwith launched upon a career of encroachment 
upon Bohemian liberties, of centralization and 
germanization, and of broken pledges, the Bohemian 
power of resistance was largely spent. 

The Hapsburgs were called to the Bohemian 
throne by a free choice of the Bohemian people, 
and in mounting the throne, they confirmed all the 
ancient liberties and privileges of Bohemia, only to 
later break every promise, pledge and oath taken, 
by theni.';^ 

At "this time Bohemia became associated with 
German- Austria and with Hungary, but she remained 
an independent Kingdom, being bound to Austria 
and Germany merely by the person of the common 
king. 

One of the most important acts of the reign of 
Ferdinand the First was destruction of the autonomy 
of Bohemian cities in 1547, accompanied by the 
execution of two knights and two citizens, who 
shortly before that were leaders in a movement. 



aiming at the re-establishment of the elective charac- 
ter of the Bohemian Crown; establishment of liberty 
for all religious beliefs in Bohemia, and the curtail- 
ment of the rights of the sovereign in various points. 

After that the history of Bohemia is largely one 
of a struggle between the Hapsburgs, aiming at 
centralization and germanization, and violating their 
oaths to maintain the independence of the Bohemian 
State, on the one hand, and the Bohemians, seeking 
to preserve their independence, on the other hand. 

The struggle culminated in a revolt, signalized 
by the "Defenestration of Prague" in 1618, when the 
representatives of Bohemian nobility threw from the 
window of Hradcany, the royal castle in Prague, 
representatives of the Hapsburg King, following this 
incident up by a dethronement of the Hapsburg 
dynasty and the Elector Palatine's election to 
Bohemian Kingship. 

But in 1620 the Hapsburgs were victorious in the 
Battle of White Mountain, and a period of indescrib- 
able martyrdom began for the Czech nationality. 

After the battle of White Mountain, twenty- 
seven leaders of the Bohemian Rebellion against 
Ferdinand the Second were executed, many of them 
tortured, and thirty-six thousand families forced to 
leave their native land and their property confiscated. 

The ruthless persecution following the battle of 
White Mountain all but wiped out the Czechs as a 
distinct national individuality. A policy of germani- 
zation was followed unmercifully, and indeed toward 
the eighteenth century the Czech nation was looked 
upon as dead. 

The results following* the battle of White Moun- 
tain are thus stated by an eminent Bohemian author: 
"On the battlefield of White Mountain, an iron die 
was cast not only to decide the fate of the crown of 
St. Wenzeslaus and the Imperial Crown of Germany, 
but also the fate and language of the Bohemian 
nation. , The fatal decision cost the rebellious noble 
his head, deprived the burger of his property, enslaved 
the peasant, destroyed the nation, wiped out the 
literature. As a strong tree stood our liticrature, 
prior to the White Mountain catastrophe. The axe 
was applied to the trunk, the branches dropped, and 
the falling leaves enriched foreign soil, while the stump 
rooted in domestic soil remained without branches, 
without blossoms, without fruit. The flower of the 
nation perished under the hand of the executioner, 
and died on foreign soil; the enslaved and down- 
trodden remnants of the people remaining in the land, 
impoverished and held in contempt, forgot their past, 



their rebellion, and their martyrs of the present and the 
past." Pisemnictvi Ceske, by Dr. Vaclav Flajshans — 
page 402. 

IV. 

The peasant may perhaps be called the savior of 
Bohemian nationality. While the Hapsburgs 
succeeded in almost completely germanizing the 
cities, the flame of Bohemian national life was kept 
alive in the country districts and in the villages. 
Without this fact, the efforts of Czech men of letters, 
who begin to appear during the first years of the 
nineteenth century, to arouse the Czech nationality 
to a new national consciousness, would have been futile. 

Until the revolutionary year of- 1848, the efforts 
of leading Czechs were largely literary and devoted 
to a revival of the Czech language as a medium of 
literary expression. The movement finally, as was 
inevitable, obtained a political coloring, and the 
forties see the establishment of Czech press, led by 
Karel Havlicek, a brilliant journalist in a very real 
sense of the term, and the revolutionary year of 1848 
brings a political renaissance. 

In the second half of the nineteenth century the 
nation reached a cultural level surpassing that of any 
other nationality in Austria. In literature and arts 
it is second to no nation of its numerical strength. 
In modern times it has produced at least three poets 
of the first rank, Vrchlichy, Cech, and Machar. 
Of the musicians and composers, one need only to 
mention Smetana, Dvorak, and Kovafovic. Of the 
novelists there is a legion, and they have produced 
real works of art. In philosophy, the names of 
Masaryk, Krejci and Drtina are known to all scholars. 

In cultural respects the Czechs stand at the head 
of all Austrian nationalities. They have not quite 
four per cent of illiterates, while the Germans of 
Austria have six per cent, and the Magyars forty 
per cent. 

. It cannot be over-emphasized that all this 
progre.ss\^as achieved by the Czechs in -the teeth of the 
most yiblfent and brutal opposition of the Austrian 
government, and the Austrian Germans. Few are the 
Czech schools indeed that were not established as 
the result of a fierce parliamentary struggle, and 
without years of hard fighting. 

Even now, eleven million Germans in Austria 
have five universities, while ten million Czechs, 
including Slovaks, have but one university. 

As regards institutions corresponding to our 
high schools, the situation is no better; indeed, before 



the war, Czechs were frequently forced to struggle for 
adequate common school facilities. Municipalities 
that still happen to be in German hands refuse to 
provide suitable school buildings for children of Czech 
citizens. This leads to the germanization of thousands 
of Czech children. The only means of defense the 
Czechs have against this barbarous treatment is a 
voluntary organization which maintains schools in 
many places for Czech children from funds raised by 
contributions' of patriotic Czechs. 

As another example of the unfair treatment 
meted out to the Czechs under the Austrian govern- 
ment, we may refer to the fact that in Bohemian 
cities, where there happens to be a German majority, 
actual .or only apparent, created by fraudulent and 
false statistics, the courts frequently refuse to transact 
business with Czechs in their mother tongue, and to 
hear complaints in the language of a large majority 
of the country's population. 

All this, of course, makes a hollow mockery of 
the nineteenth section of the constitution of Austria 
which reads as follows: 

"All races of the state enjoy equal rights, and 
every race has an inviolable right to assert its 
nationality and to cultivate its language. The equal 
rights of all languages" of the country, in school, 
office, and public life are recognized by the state." 

As an example of the level to which opponents 
of the Czech nationality descended, even prior to the 
war, we may cite an expression of Mr. Peschka, then 
a member of the Austrian Cabinet, who several years 
ago at a public meeting in Graz declared that the 
struggle between the Bohemians and Germans 
ultimately would be decided by force, and that in 
such contest the Austrian Germans would be victor- 
ious with the aid of their kinsmen from the Empire, 
and that the result would be a complete wiping out 
of the Czechs. 

V. 

In speaking of the Czechs, we must fif/t' forget 
the Slovaks, who are really a part of tlie saiiie ethnic 
group, so much so in fact that now they are demand- 
ing that they be united with their Czech brethren in 
an independent Bohemian- Slovak State. 

Three million Slovaks live under the Magyar rule 
in Hungary. The fact may come as a distinct shock 
to many Americans, but it is a fact just the same that 
what the Slovaks had to suffer under Magyar rule 
even before the war beggars all description. 



The Magyars have a trick of posing before the 
world as chivalry personified and as defenders of 
liberty. In the United States, their struggle against 
Austria in 1848 and 1849 is well known and the 
traditions of the Kossuth visit in the early fifties of 
the last century are still strong. Americans find it 
hard to believe that the Magyars, who attained 
practical independence in 1867, gained it merely to 
oppress other nationalities infinitely worse than they 
themselves ever suffered. 

Hungary forms with Austria what is usually 
known as a Realunion. Hungary has fnore than 
twenty million inhabitants, but of these the ruling 
Magyar nation forms not quite nine million. The 
rest of the population consists of Slovaks, Roumanians 
Germans, Ruthenians, Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. 
The Government is in the hands of an oligarchy of 
feudal nobility. For anything like it we would look 
in vain anywhere else in Europe. It is Asiatic in the 
worst sense of the term. Hungary has only about a 
million of voters, and Hungarian elections are a 
synonym for violence and corruption. Owing to the 
extreme exploitation of the people by feudal nobility, 
before the war a continuous stream of immigrants 
came to the United States from Hutigary. 

For three million Slovaks there does not exist 
in Hungary a single adequate common school con- 
ducted in the Slovak language. Even before the 
war the Slovak press was systematically persecuted, 
and Slovak papers subjected to unimaginable clii- 
canery. It is an interesting fact that there are more 
Slovak papers in the United States than in Hungary. 
These American papers the Hungarian government 
considers a menace to the Magyar state, and accord- 
ingly Refuses them postal privileges. 

The leaders of the Slovak people are imprisoned 
whenever the slightest pretext arises, and Slovak 
editors in Hungary are more familiar with Magyar 
jails than with their own editorial offices. 

These are generalizations, of course, but within 
the scope, of this lecture it is impossible to go into 
details." 'c However, if details are desired, let me refer 
those interested to the comprehensive work of Mr. 
Seton- Watson (Scotus Viator) on the "^.acial 
Problems in Hungary". This book contains a wealth 
of detail and constitutes a terrific indictment of the 
Magyar oligarchy. 

Magyar misrepresentations for years succeeded 
in deluding the world into the belief that Hungary 
was an "isle of liberty", as Count Apponyi once 
expressed it. The world is nqw beginning to realize 



that the Hungarian isle of liberty is a vast penitentiary 
for all non-Magyar nationalities, with the difference, 
however, that in an ordinary penitentiary usually 
only the guilty are imprisoned, while for non-Magyar 
nationahties Hungary is a jail because they refuse 
to betray some of the most cherished ideals of the race. 

VI. 

Mettemich, the arch-reactionary, once called 
Italy a mere geographical expression. This statement 
was never really true of Italy, but it is true when we 
speak of Austria. Who ever heard of any one calHng 
himself an Austrian? Even the present Austrian 
Emperor once asserted that he was a German Prince. 
There is no Austrian language, no Austrian literature, 
no Austrian nationality, no Austrian civilization. 
Most Austrian subjects would consider it nothing 
short of an insult to be called Austrians. 

Yet the impression is not to be gained that the 
Austrian state never had. its justification. Dynasties, 
no matter how powerful and astute, after all cannot 
form states unless aided by social, economic and 
political factors. 

Austria's justification for existence may be found 
in Asiatic invasions, that is, of the Huns (Magyars) 
and later of the Turks.' With the waning power of 
Turkey, Austria loses its ruling idea; it becomes a 
rudderless craft on the vast sea of political life. 

But the Bohemians for a long time did not seek 
Austria's dismemberment. They felt that the 
Austrian State might become a federalized union of 
nationalities with equal rights. Austria's mission was 
to become a guardian of European peace by the 
creation and maintenance of a United States of 
nations in Central Europe. That is what Palackj^, 
the great Czech historian and statesman, had in 
mind when he declared, "If there were no Austria, 
it would be necessary to create one". 

The condition precedent to Austria's existence 
in modern times became justice to, and fait treatment 
of, all nationalities. 

This condition was never lived up to. Since 
1866, and especially since the formation of the defunct 
Triple Alliance, Austria became nothing else but an 
appendage of Berlin, and it is Berlin only that has 
upheld and still upholds the rule of the German 
minority in one half of Austria, and of the Magyar 
minority in the other half. Austria has been for 
more than a generation, and is now, merely Germany's 
vassal. What right to existence has a state like that? 

11 



Palacky himself fully realized before his death 
that it is hopeless to attempt to retrieve Austria, and 
that is the secret of his later equally famous statement : 
"Before Austria was, we were, and when Austria no 
longer is, we still shall be". 

I am not insensible of the obligations imposed 
upon me by your hospitality, and I shall refrain from 
any expression of personal opinion as to the cause of 
the present war, but permit me to state as a fact that, 
in the judgment of all Bohemians, this war was 
provoked by Vienna at the behest of Berlin. Bohe- 
mians well know that as early as 1913 Austria at- 
tempted, to cause a war with Serbia by means of 
documents forged by the Austrian legation in Bel- 
grade, and they know that Austrian militarists have 
long been hoping for an opportunity to attack Serbia. 

Austria has become a state that may be compared 
to a mother devouring her own children. 

Again, Austria in entering the present conflict 
has forced her Slav subjects into what they regard as 
a fratricidal struggle. It is only natural that the 
Czechs think only with horror of even the possibility 
of being compelled to fire upon their Slav brethren, 
the Russians and the Serbs. 

Also, the Czech public opinion ever since the 
national renaissance in the first half of the nineteenth 
century has always been pro-French and pro-English. 

From all this it is easy to understand why the 
Czechs look upon the present war with loathing and 
horror, and why it has led them to demand indepen- 
dence regardless of Austria's ultimate fate. 

The Czechs and Slovaks are now a unit in asking 
for an independent Bohemian - Slovak State. 
Independence — that one word expresses the supreme 
hopes and aspirations of all real Czechs and Slovaks. 

VII. 

The Czech and Slovak demand for independence 
was voiced by the Bohemian Foreign Committee in a 
manifesto issued in Paris, November 14th, 1915, the 
foremost: of the signers of this historical document ' 
being Bref ." Masaryk, deputy, former member of the 
Austrian delegations, chairman of the independent . 
Czech deputies Club from Bohemia and Moravia in 
Austrian Parliament and a famous Czech philosopher, 
and Mr. Jos. Duerich, member of the Austrian 
Parliament and president of the "Komensky" 
Society for the support of Czech schools in Vienna. 

This manifesto is simply an expression of the 
opinion of the whole Czech nation, as shown by the 
behavior of Czech troops following the declaration 



of war against Serbia. Czech regiments have been 
surrendering to the "enemy" whenever an opportunity 
has afforded itself. As an illustration, let me cite the 
example of the 28th regiment, recruited from the 
Prague population, which on the third day of April, 
1915, surrendered in the Carpathians to the Russians, 
led by its officers, as best attested by an army order, 
signed by the Austrian- Emperor himself, striking this 
regiment as forever "disgraced" from the army roll. 

This behavior of the Bohemian troops in the 
Austrian army is not due to cowardice. Many of the 
soldiers who have surrendered have re-enlisted in the 
Russian army, and are now fighting against Austria. 
"There is a Bohemian legion fighting in the Russian 
army which has been frequently mentioned for its 
valor in the orders of the day. Indeed, many of the 
Bohemian soldiers serving in the Russian army and 
fighting against Austria have been decorated for valor 
by order of the Russian Czar. There is a Bohemian 
legion fighting with the armies of France and only 
recently twenty members of this legion received from 
a special envoy of the Russian Czar the Cross of Sts 
George, always awarded only for conspicuous deed, 
of bravery. 

When the war broke out, the Austrian govern- 
ment — the only one of all belligerent countries, 
Turkey not excepted — did not dare to convoke the 
Austrian Parliament, fearing especially the Czech 
protest, but it did attempt to induce the Czech pohti- 
cal parties to publish a manifesto supporting the war. 
For answer it received silence which at this time is 
indeed more eloquent than words. 

The Czech press is today muzzled and leading 
Czech politicians and statesmen are jailed. Dr. 
Karel Kramar, besides Prof. Masaryk the best known 
of Czech leaders, even now is on trial for treason 
against the Austrian State. Deputy Klofac is in 
prison since the outbreak of the war, and Dr. Scheiner, 
the President of the Bohemian Sokol (Gymnastic) 
Societies, is also in prison. 

The "Neues Wiener Tagblatt", with the per- 
mission of the Austrian censor, recently published 
statistics of executions in Austria since the outbreak 
of the war, and- according to these figures during the 
first fourteen months of the war Austria Hungary 
has been the scene of the execution of three thou- 
sand three hundred seventy-three persons. These 
executions occured for political offenses, and are di- 
vided as follows: 

Slavs: In Bohemia, 720 persons hanged or shot; 
in Moravia, 245 persons; in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 



800 persons; in Galicia, 486 persons;. in Bukowina, 
330 persons. 

Italians: Two hundred persons executed in 
Trieste, 90 in Istria, 330 in the Trentino. 

Austria is conducting war against her own people, 
and her people are looking forward to the time when, 
concerning her fate, they will be able to quote 
Robert G. Ingersoll on "The Doom of Empires": 

"The traveler standing amid the ruins of ancient 
cities and empires, seeing on every side the fallen 
pillar and the prostrate wall, asks why did these cities 
fall, why did these empires crumble? And the Ghost 
of the Past, the wisdom of ages, answers: These 
temples, these palaces, these cities, the ruins of which 
you stand upon, were built by tyranny and injustice. 
The hands that built them were unpaid. The backs 
that bore the burdens also bore the marks of the lash. 
They were built by slaves to satisfy the vanity and 
ambition of thieves and robbers. For these reasons 
they are dust. 

"Their civilization was a lie. Their laws merely 
regulated robbery and estabhshed theft. They 
bought and sold the bodies and souls of men, and the 
mournful wind of desolation, sighing amid their 
crumbling ruins, is a voice of prophetic warning to 
those who would repeat the infamous experiment, 
uttering the great truth, that no nation founded upon 
slavery, either of body or mind, can stand." 

VIII. 

The irony of fate has it that in demanding the 
establishment of a Bohemian- Slovak national state, 
Czechs and Slovaks may safely refpr to the theories 
of the Germanic school of political science, led in 
America, as heretofore suggested, by Mr. Burgess, 
from whose "Political Science and Comparative 
Constitutional Law", (Vol 1. pages 38 and 39), I 
again take the liberty to quote: 

"The national state is the most modern product 
of political history, political science and practical 
politics. It comes nearer to solving all the problems of 
political organization than any other system as yet 
developed. In the first place, it rescues the world from 
the monotony of the universal empire. This is an 
indispensable condition of political progress. We 
advance politically, as well as individually, by contact, 
competition and antagonism. The universal empire 
suppresses all this in its universal reign of peace, 
which means, in the long run, stagnation and despotism . 
At the same time, the national state solves the problem 
of the relation between states by the evolution of the 

14 



system of international law. Through this it preserves 
most of the advantages of the universal empire while 
discarding its one-sided and intolerant character. In 
the second place, the national state solves the problem 
of the relation of sovereignty to liberty ; so that while 
it is the most powerful political organization that the 
world has ever produced, it is still the freest. This is 
easy to comprehend. The national state permits the 
participation of the governed in the government. In 
a national state the population have a common 
language and a common understanding of the princi- 
ples of rights and the character of wrongs. This 
common understanding is, the strongest moral basis 
which a government can possibly have; and, at the 
same time, it secures the enactment and administra- 
tion of laws whose righteousness must be acknowledged, 
and whose effect will be the realization of the truest 
liberty. In the third place, the national state solves 
the question of the relation of central to local govern- 
ment, in that it rests upon the principle of self- 
government in both domains. In the perfect national 
state there can thus be no jealousy between the 
respective spheres ; and the principle will be universally 
recognized that, where uniformity is necessary, it 
must exist ; but that where uniformity is not necessary, 
variety is to reign in order that through it a deeper 
and truer harmony may be discovered." 

Mr. Burgess concludes that the national state is 
the most modern and complete solution of the whole 
problem of political organization which the world has 
as yet produced, and Czechs and Slovaks might well 
rest their case on this proposition. 

For that matter, the fact cannot be over-em- 
phasized that the Czechs were deprived of the 
national state tKey once had by force. In demanding 
independence, Czechs can plant themselves not only 
upon the proposition that any nation has the right 
to self-government, but also upon laws and constitu- 
tions which have never been repealed or abrogated 
with the consent of the Bohemian people. 

Almost four centuries ago Bohemia, Moravia 
and Silesia (with the two Lusatias) constituted an 
independent kingdom, just as Hungary was then an 
independent kingdom. In 1526 Czechs called the 
Hapsburg dynasty to the Bohemian throne for 
practically the same reasons and on the same condi- 
tions as the Magyars. Together with the Pragmatic 
Sanction, the terms under which the Hapsburgs were 
called to the Hungarian throne formed what we might 
call the legal foundation of the Hungarian revolution 
in 1848. The Czech case, legally speaking, is every 



bit as strong, if not stronger, as was the Magyar case 
in 1848. The compact of 1526, together with the 
coronation oaths and a large number of other historical 
documents too numerous to be here mentioned, form 
the legal basis of the Czech revolution in 1915. 

De facto the Bohemians lost, their independence, 
de jure they still have it, and are now demanding 
something of which they were illegally deprived. 
Just as no one can be legally deprived of his property 
by force and violence and without due process of law, 
just so the Czechs retain their legal title to indepen- 
dence. 

All this of course makes the Czech case unassail- 
able, but it could not be regarded as weak even with- 
out these historical and legal reasons and arguments. 
Indeed, once a nation has become conscious of its 
nationality, demands liberty and independence and 
has proven its possibility by its economic and cultural 
development, its right to independence is taken out 
of the sphere of debatable questions. 

It makes little difference whether the nation 
referred to is large or small. Questions of right and 
morals do not depend upon size and quantity. More- 
over, the belief in the necessity of large states, rife 
in certain circles of economic and political theorists, is 
one of the superstitions that periodically grip man- 
kind, only to be abandoned upon a sober second 
thought. Again, the reaction against this superstition 
is already beginning to set in, as evidenced by the 
recent address of Mr. L. P. Jacks, editor of the 
Hibbert Journal, before the London Sociological 
Society. 

Mr. Jacks thinks that before long we shall see the 
rise of a new criticism of the -whole idea of government. 
What are, he asks, the limits of government? Will 
not the tendency be to eliminate a number of un- 
manageable propositions from the scope of human 
design? Mr. Jacks believes that the next great 
movement of political thought will be in the direction 
of restricting rather than expanding, concentrating 
rather than spreading, the objects of social endeavor. 
The deeper thought, he says, starts from the human 
end of the problem ; its first principle is that "industrial 
civilization is made for man, not man for industrial 
civilization". 

Lord Bryce thinks that possibly the modern 
states have become too big to manage. 

But it is necessary to point out that independent 
Bohemia will not be a small state — will not be, I say, 
because I firmly believe this war must bring the Czechs 
freedom and liberty. 

16 



'rf^t' 



An independent Bohemian- Slovak state will have 
a population of over twelve million, and its territorial 
extent will be about fifty thousand square miles. 
The Bohemian- Slovak state will be eighth among 
twenty-two European vStates. 

Economically and financially Bohemia is the 
richest of Austrian "provinces", and after the war, 
separated from Austria, she will be richer, because she 
will not be forced to support the economically and 
financially "passive" Austrian lands. Today Czechs 
pay more than four hundred million crowns yearly 
by way of taxes to the Austrian government, but all 
this money stays in Vienna and Bohemian needs are 
being neglected. 

A standard authority thus states the industrial 
resources of Bohemia: 

"The industry of Bohemia, favored by its central 
situation, has .long rendered it one of the most im- 
portant governments of the Austrian Empire. Spinning 
and weaving are extensively carried on in the northern 
and southeastern districts; manufactures of lace, 
ribbons, metal, and wood work, chemical products, 
and other branches of skilled industry are also largely 
developed. Pottery, porcelain, glassware, cutting of 
precious stones, give employment to many hands. 
The glassware of Bohemia alone, which is known all 
over Europe, employs 50,000 workers. Large quanti- 
ties of beer (Pilsener) of the kind known as lager are 
exported. Prague, the capital, is the centre of the 
manufactures and of the commerce of the country. 
The largest towns are Prague, Pilsen, Reichenberg, 
Budweis, Teplitz, Aussig, and Eger. For internal 
intercourse there are excellent highways, extending 
to 10,000 miles, and several important lines of railway 
leading both southeast to Vienna and northwest 
toward Dresden." (The Americana, Vol. 3, article 
Bohemia) . 

An independent Bohemia will mean the addition 
of a cultured and economically self-sustaining state 
to the international family. 

IX. 

Throughout Bohemian history we find evidences 
of idealism. Spiritual values have never been under- 
estimated by the Czechs. The Hussite wars, while 
they had their social and economic background, 
after all were fought for a religious and civil ideal, 
for communion in both kinds and for the rights of the 
Czech language againsf the aggression of the Germans. 
Palacky may have been somewhat carried away by 
national pride when he said so, but nevertheless his 

17 



contention that the Hussite War is "the first war in 
the world's history that was fought not for material 
interest, but for intellectual ones, for ideas", can well 
be defended. 

The Czechs have their faults and vices, no doubt, 
just as all nationalities have them, but hypocrisy 
certainly is not one of these. 

The recent Bohemian declaration of independence, 
for that it is, declares that, "We take the side of the 
fighting Slav nations and their Allies, without regard 
to victory or defeat, because right is on their side. 
The problem which side is right in this fatal war is a 
question of principle and of political morals, a question 
which at present no honest and sincere statesman, 
no conscientious and thinking nation, can evade." 

This statement, I think, represents the best Czech 
thought on the subject of politics and political morals. 
To the Czechs politics is not a game, but it is the 
expression of the nation's hopes and desires. Best 
proof of this lies in the fact that the manifesto was 
issued when the Russian army was forced to retreat 
from the Carpathians, and when the situation from 
the Allies' point of view was gloomy indeed. 

Freedom regained, liberty achieved, and such a 
nation certainly will add still more to the world's 
spiritual treasures. 

• X. 

The American Institute of International Law at 
its session, held in the City of Washington, on the 6th 
day of January, 1916, adopted a declaration, now 
known as the Declaration of the Rights of Nations, 
in which the following passages occur: 

"Every nation has the right to exist and to 
protect and to conserve its existence; but this right 
neither implies the right nor justifies the act of the 
State to protect itself or to conserve its existence by 
the commission of unlawful acts against innocent 
and unoffending States. 

"This right is and is to be understood in the sense 
in which right to life is understood in national law,, 
according to which it is unlawful for a human being 
to take human life unless it be necessary so to do in 
self-defense against an unlawful attack threatening 
the life of the party unlawfully attacked. 

"Every nation has the right to independence in 
the sense that it has a right to the pursuit of happiness 
and is free to develop itself -v^thout interference or 
control from other states, provided that in so doing 
it does not interfere with, or violate the rights of 
other States. 






"Every nation is in law and before law the equal 
of every other State composing the society of nations, 
and all States have the right to claim, and, according 
to the Declaration of Independence of the United 
States, 'to assume, among the powers of the earth, 
the separate and equal station to which the laws of 
nature and of nature's God entitle them.' 

"Every nation entitled to a right by the law of 
nations is entitled to have that right respected and 
protected by all other nations, for right and duty are 
correlative, and the right of one is the duty of all to 
observe." 

In laying, down these principles, the authors 
largely had in mind questions of international law and 
the rights of states. Nevertheless, these very prin- 
ciples apply with equal force to nationalities struggling 
for independence, or seeking to regain it. Every 
nation has the right to independence. 

Certain it is that the terms agreed to by a future 
conference of the belligerent powers will not lead to a 
permanent peace unless they have due regard to the 
principle of nationality. The peace following this war 
cannot be durable and cannot be permanent if ancient 
injustices are perpetuated. 

At this critical juncture of the world's history, 
it is well to recall what Wendell Phillips said after the 
outbreak of the Civil War, in December, 1861, in 
an address in Boston: 

"In my view, the bloodiest war ever waged is 
infinitely better than the happiest slavery which evei 
fattened man into obedience. And yet I love peace. 
But it is real peace; not peace such as we have had, 
not peace that meant lynch-law in the Carolinas, and 
mob-law in New York; not peace that meant chains 
around Boston Court-house, a gag on the lips of 
statesmen, and the slave sobbing himself to sleep in 
curses. No more such peace for me; no peace that is 
not born of justice, and does not recognize the rights 
of every race and every man." 




NatioDal Printing & Pub. Co. i(gm%, n i 2146-2150 Blue Island Are. 



^^ome American and English 
Books on Bohemia 



Count Lutzow: Bohemia (Encyclopedia Britannica). 

Count Lutzow: History of Bohemia. Everyman's Library, 
London 1910. 

Count Lutzow: Story of Prague. Medieval Town Series, 
J. M. Dent. London 1907. (2nd ed.) 

Count Lutzow: The Life and Times of Master John Hus. 
J. M. Dent. 1909. 

Count Lutzow: English Translation of: The Labyrinth of 
the World and the Paradise of the Heart by John Amos 
Komensky, J. M. Dent. 1905. 

Count Lutzow: A History of Bohemian Literature. London. 
(2nd ed. 1907.) 

Baker James: Pictures from Bohemia. Chapman and Hall. 
London- Chicago 1894. 

Balch Emily G. : Our Slavic Fellow Citizens. New York 1910. 

Gregor Frances: The Story of Bohemia. Cincinnati and New 
York 1896. 

Maurice Charles Edmund: The Story of Bohemia (Story of 
the Nations Series). New York and London 1896. 

Monroe Will S.: Bohemia and the Czechs. L. C. Page. 
Boston 1910. 

Schaff S. David: John Hus after 500 Years. Chas. Scribner's 
Sons. New York 1915. 

SchwarzeW. N.: John Hus, the Martyr of Bohemia. Fleming 
H. Revell. New York 1915. 

Vickers Robert H. : History of Bohemia. Chicago 1894. 



oome DVOKiets 
on the Bohemian Cause 



Fublished By The 

BOHEMIAN NATIONAL ALLIANCE 



DECLARATION o^f the Bohemian (Czech) 
Foreign Committee 

ADDENDA: 

Professor T. G. Masaryk as a Lecturer in London University. 
Comments of London Papers. 



The Position of the Bohemians (Czechs) 
in the European War 

CONTENTS: 

1. Why the Bohemians are not friends of the Germans. 

2. Bohemians for America and against Austria. 

3. Resolution of protest against the "Appeal to the American 
• People". 

4. British, French and Russian comments on the attitude of 

the Bohemians. 



Bohemia's Claim to Independence 

An address delivered by Charles Pergler L. L. B. before the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 
of the United States. 



\ 




Boh< 



lemian (Czech) National 
Alliance in America 



The Bohemian National AUiance in America is an orga- 
nization composed of the ' ' Sokol ' ' gymnastic societies, of the 
principal Czech fraternal organizations, of social clubs and labor 
bodies. It has branches in most of the larger cities of the United 
States, as well as many branches in Canada. It is entitled to 
speak for the 700,000 Bohemians in the United States. 

The Bohemian National Alliance is working actively for 
the freedom of Bohemia, an object which is bound up with the 
success of the Allies. It opposes the false neutrality tactics em- 
ployed by Germans living in the United States, particularly their 
efforts to stop the export of munitions of war. 

With the Bohemian National AUiance in America are af- / 
filiated similar organizations of Czechs living in London, Paris •'■. 
and Switzerland. 



